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“While Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem, the time came for her to have to child. Mary gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no place for them in the inn.” – Luke 2.6-7

In the Christmas story the angels know who Jesus is and give humble shepherds, and us, a sign. The sign is the baby, lying in a manger. A manger is a feed trough, so Jesus’ first crib hints that he will give his life to nourish ours. A manger is a place of low status, a place among animals at the margin of human society. The gospel writer Luke wants us to recognize with the shepherds that this child is good news for people like them who live in poverty.

Jesus begins life in a world without room for him or his parents because descendants of David have crowded Bethlehem to register in a Roman census. People hail Caesar as savior, give him the title Augustus, the divine, and pay his taxes. But it is the child lying in the manger who incarnates the love and life-giving power at work since day one in our evolution. In Jesus God becomes one of us and shows us God’s love.

How are you making room for the Christ child this year? How can we join Jesus in his work of saving the world?